Rob Gronkowski Week-to-Week With Strained Knee

Although nobody will shed a tear for them, the Patriots really have had to deal with the injury bug this season. They’ve already lost two of their most prolific offensive weapons, in Julian Edelman and Dion Lewis, and nearly lost Rob Gronkowski on Sunday night.

Gronk left the Sunday night loss to Denver in the fourth quarter with a knee injury and had to be carted off. This immediately makes you think it’s ligament damage, but such is not the case.

An MRI showed that New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has a bruised right knee but no tears, a source told ESPN’s Dianna Russini on Monday.

A source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Gronkowski’s injury is considered a “minor knee strain.”

He is not expected to play this week against the Eagles, a source told Schefter, and he is considered week-to-week. How quickly Gronkowski returns will be a pain tolerance issue, sources told Schefter, but he is expected to be back before the end of the regular season.

The way in which he fell, and how heavily braced his knee was when carted off made you consider the worse. But after the game, footage surfaced of him walking around in the locker room and there was no limp, crutches or anything.

The pressure of potentially going undefeated is now gone, no need to rush him back. New England has the inside track to the #1 seed in the AFC, so expect them to be cautious.